CONTEXTUALIZATION 

Using satellites to monitor the environment is of great use when combating deforestation and environmental degradation, generating data that can help implement public policies to combat deforestation and foster more social participation and control.

The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) is an intergovernmental organization comprising eight countries, which, together, cover 99% of the Amazon Biome: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. It is an institution that is responsible for implementing the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (TCA), signed in 1978, and operates as a permanent cooperation forum, exchange and know-how, under the principle of reducing regional disparity, helping implement programs and projects that foster sustainable development and regional cooperation to improve the standards of living for Amazon inhabitants.

THE PROJECT

With a 60-month deadline, the project Monitoring Forest Coverage in Regional Amazon aims to help develop the capacity to monitor deforestation, changes in the use of land and forest in ACTO member countries, offering information on the extent and quality of forest coverage, pre-requisites for monitoring and controlling deforestation.

The project – which began in 2011, with resources from the German Agency for International Technical Cooperation (GIZ) and from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) – will receive support from the Amazon Fund in the following initiatives: to strengthen observation rooms by offering support to purchase physical infrastructure and to hire staff; to structure research rooms; to offer training in monitoring technology for forest coverage; and to design national monitoring plans.

Efforts also focus on regional cooperation to combat illegal deforestation and to exchange experiences related to public policy instruments aimed at reducing deforestation rates.

The project has the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), and the Ministry of the Environment is involved as the National Coordinating Institution, by means of the Policy Department to Control Deforestation. The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) is also involved in the project, transferring its monitoring technology for forest coverage and training people in other ACTO member countries

INTERVENTION LOGIC

This project falls under the “Monitoring and Control” (2) and "Science, Innovation and Economic Instruments" (4) components of the logical framework of the Amazon Fund.

Click on the following image to view its objectives tree, that is, how the project's outputs and linked to the expected outcomes and impact.

ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED

The project concluded its activities on September 30, 2018, after five years of execution. The project produced five regional maps of deforestation in 2000-2016 and three regional maps of land cover and use in 2000-2014.

The observation rooms of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) member countries were established with the hiring of expert consultants and purchase of equipment funded by the project up to March 2018. After that period, the governments of the respective countries took over their operation to continue the activities initiated by the project.

Also noteworthy is the investment in technical geoprocessing courses given by the Amazon Regional Center of the National Institute for Space Research (CRA/Inpe), with 218 technicians being trained in 17 courses in mapping and radar imaging systems, taught in English and Spanish, on-site and online.

Four regional seminars were also held in which technicians representing governments and observation rooms were able to expand agreements, exchange information and thereby expand the activities of the observation rooms on topics such as forest degradation, burning, mining and illegal deforestation, among other activities that contributed to the success of this project.